Indian, Victory Boost Polaris Sales

Motorcycle sales increased a hefty 74 percent in the first quarter of 2015 for Polaris Industries, the company announced today. Sales of the Indian, Victory and Slingshot brands totaled $137.4 million.

Polaris reported that demand for Indian and Victory motorcycles was up nearly 40 percent “driven primarily  by strong Indian Motorcycle retail sales.” Sales of Slingshot models “were ahead of expectations.”

Polaris said Indian and Victory benefitted from new models – the Indian Chief Dark Horse (pictured above) and the Victory Magnum X-1 (pictured at right).

Overall, Polaris reported record Q1 net income of $88.6 million, an increase of nine percent from the 2014 number of $80.9 million.

“We outperformed the market again in most of our businesses in spite of increased competitive promotional pressures, weakening global markets and the corresponding negative effect from currencies,” said Scott Wine, Polaris’ chairman and chief executive officer.

“While we are justifiably proud of these accomplishments, we remain focused on seizing the numerous opportunities we missed to perform better.  From factory inventory being too high to ongoing production inefficiencies, particularly in motorcycles, we did not perform to our capabilities or our expectations.  However, we are making great strides towards addressing these issues, and I am confident those efforts will allow us to continue outperforming our markets.”

Polaris did not release unit sales figures for its motorcycle brands.

– Bud Wilkinson